Rep. Katie Porter Gives Pharma CEO a Math Lesson On Cancer Drug Price Hikes and His $13 Million Salary

Oh my god, Katie Porter. pic.twitter.com/tO6B7xCx3G

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) September 30, 2020

Rep. Porter has never been shy about being firm to get the answers that she is looking for, and she did not hold back on Alles. She pointed out how a single pill went from costing $215 in 2005 to costing $719 just 15 years later. She also used the whiteboard to explain how by tripling the cost of the medication, Alles made half a million dollars on bonuses alone. Porter stressed the point that the medication saw little improvement despite the rise in cost and that senior citizens in her district could not afford a single pill.

From 2005 to 2019, for example, Celgene raised the price of the blood cancer treatment Revlimid 22 times, sometimes as much as three times in a single year. The price went from $215 to $719 per pill.

— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) September 30, 2020

The Oversight Committee has shared that through its 18-month investigation, they determined that pharma companies like Celgene and Teva intentionally hiked drug prices to meet sales goals. These reports show that improving the effectiveness of the drug was not the goal of the company, but to hit revenue goals and line the pockets of the executives. Price hikes were at times so high that even employees of the pharma companies could not afford the medication.